Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
COMMUNICATION*
Ivan Malbai**
Rua Bri***
1. INTRODUCTION
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The McKinsey 7-S Framework encompasses seven key variables that every
organization that aspires to achieving success needs to observe. It is evident that
in the framework the "soft" organizational variables prevail over the "hard"
ones, which used to be considered dominant. Of central importance among
them, as suggested by figure 1, are shared values, which in the context of this
paper are represented through organizational values defined as the connective
tissue of contemporary organizations and the key to individual and
organizational behavior (Sikavica et al. 2008; 268). Their crucial role in
business was already clearly revealed in the late 1980s by Woodcock and
Francis (1989), who depicted an organization without values as a house built on
weak foundations that will eventually fall down. The ideas of the
aforementioned authors as well as of some other writers in the field led to the
development of a new phenomenon Values-Based Organization (VBO).
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Over two thousand years ago, in 431 B.C., "Pericles in Ancient Greece
eloquently urged the Athenians, who were at war with the Spartans, to adhere
to values such as those inherent in democracy: informality in communication,
the importance of individual dignity, and promotion based on performance.
Pericles realized that the underlying values might mean victory or defeat"
(Weihrich and Koontz, 1998; 333). Nevertheless, it was not until the 1970s that
a systematic investigation of organizational values started within the
psychological approach represented by Milton Rokeach, who defined a value as
"an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is
personally and socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct
or end-state of existence" (Rokeach, 1973; 5). He also developed the first
classification of values that was based on goals and means of their achievement,
wherein he distinguished terminal from instrumental values (Rokeach, 1973; 7),
defining them in the following way:
terminal values refer to desirable end-states, thus representing the goal
that an individual would like to achieve;
instrumental values refer to means of achieving terminal values.
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SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
Universalism Benevolence
Self-direction
OPENNESS Conformity
CONSERVATION
TO CHANGE
Stimulation
Security
Power
SELF-ENHANCEMENT
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behavior
attitudes
expectations
beliefs
values
A values target consists of five concentric rings, starting from the center
with organizational values that directly affect the beliefs of organizational
members. Their beliefs determine their expectations, which in turn influence the
attitudes of organizational members toward various issues. Finally, the attitudes
determine how organizational members will behave in concrete situations.
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values for their own sake, but rather defining a core ideology primarily
constituted by the organization's key purpose and values, as shown in figure 4.
Figure 4 also reveals that organizational values are a stable and constant
construct. Unlike operational business practices and specific goals and business
strategies, which an organization changes and adapts to specific circumstances,
core organizational values should not depend on situational factors. It is
therefore crucial that managers recognize the importance of investing their time
into considering organizational values, since the organization's business
performance and prosperity will largely depend upon the appropriate choice of
these values.
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starts with their explicit statement in a concise and succinct form. In other
words, it is suggested that organizational values should be written down in an
appropriate way as a value statement, vision statement, mission statement, code
of ethics, or another type of statement and/or organizational document. The next
step consists in providing detailed guidelines for each particular organizational
value, illustrated by concrete examples from practice which clearly indicate
how organizational values can be advocated. Begley and Boyd suggest that
those guidelines should be designed in form of a handbook that would be
available to all organizational members. However, these two steps are only a
prerequisite for the actual promotion of organizational values, that is, their
successful communication to employees. In other words, everything that is
written down with regards to organizational values, whether in concise or more
extensive form, has to be visible in the overall human resources management
policy. In that respect, it needs to be highlighted that the role of continuous
education/training programs should not be limited to increasing the awareness
of organizational values but, even more importantly, should be aimed at
practicing their implementation (Begley and Boyd, 2000).
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Person-
organization fit
Organizational
efficacy
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subordinates (van Vuuren et al., 2007; 151). As a result, managers need to direct
the behavior of their subordinates in their everyday communication, acting as a
model in conveying real organizational values. Some authors suggest that
effective communication between managers and subordinates can satisfy the
basic human needs like recognition, sense of belonging and safety (Certo and
Certo, 2008; 390). Concerning that, Certo and Certo use an example which
depicts how even a simple managerial initiative to become better acquainted
and closer to employees can greatly contribute to satisfying each of the three
needs above. Their example, which sheds light on the importance of
organizational values and their nature, is especially illustrative when we take
into account that the values held by an organizations executives (managers) are
typically closely aligned with the values of the organization itself.
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Figure 6 shows that the organizations identity, which arises from the
accepted organizational values, is transformed into a real image by means of
employees perceptions and behavior, and, subsequently, by means of the
interaction between employees and customers. Such a way of conveying the
information on organizational values is only one possible channel through
which customers can find out what kind of an organization they are involved
with. Considering the above, it is necessary to take into account that customers
will more likely be attached to the organization that, according to their
awareness, observes the same values as they themselves do. The organization
that succeeds in communicating such an alignment of values to the customer the
earliest has a great advantage over the others, which is another reason why
contemporary organizations should address this issue.
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1
A recent illustrative example of what can occur when explicit values are not aligned with
implicit values is that of the former US energy giant and one of the worlds largest corporations
Enron (Johnson, 2009; 19). In the corporations documents, respect, integrity, communication
and excellence (RICE) were unambiguously stated as its core values, wherein further
explanation and rationale for each value was additionally provided. However, Enrons
management did not observe those values in practice, and was instead driven by other
personal interests, which resulted in numerous dishonorable deeds and malversations that
finally led to bankruptcy and over 4,500 layoffs.
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4. CONCLUSION
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REFERENCES
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Saetak
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